The invention relates to a toy with an elongate, stream-lined shape, preferably fish or sea animal models for use in the sea, in a bathtub or in a swimming pool. The models are shaped and weight-adjusted with regard to providing a long glide curve underwater when flung down below the surface. The models are unmotorized and thus suitable for active play and for playing together. The center of gravity is in a low position, so that the models will find a correct swimming position in the water.
The ordinary unmotorized water toys in the form of models of fish and sea animals are unsuited to be flung and achieve a long movement path in water. Some of them will sink immediately. Others are light and not suited to do much more than floating on the surface.
There has also been manufactured weight-adjusted toy models of inter alia submarines with various devices, most often a motorized propulsion device, providing an automatic underwater movement for these toy models. Because the propulsion of the toy models is more or less independent of the active participation of the users, it will often turn out that these toys after some time will provide less motivation for active play.
GB 2,084,032 discloses an invention consisting of fish models in a transparent water container. The floating position of the models is determined by means of a weight in the abdomen and an air chamber thereabove. The specific weight is somewhat larger than water, however the models are prevented from sinking to the bottom by a magnet in the model abdomen, which is repelled by a magnet plate in the container bottom. The models are set in motion by a motor-operated pump which creates a changing water pressure inside the container.
The pressure variations create a movement in an elastic air chamber in the model body, which via a mechanical connection causes propulsive wagging of the model's tail. Because this invention presupposes a container with an attached pump, it cannot be used for free and active play outdoors.
GB 1,337,034 shows a toy shaped like a fish having elastic skin. A weight in the model abdomen provides a low center of gravity and a correct floating position. Propulsion is created by a motor inside the head of the fish model, which motor puts a built-in, wave-shaped rod into rotation around the axis of the wave-rod in the longitudinal direction of the model, in such a manner that it is rendered a "serpentine wriggling" movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,580,227 shows a previously known invention concerning creating attention for advertisement printed on models of fish, submarines or other objects which are submerged in a transparent container filled with a liquid. The specific weight of the models is adapted to keep them floating at a desired depth level in a given, clear liquid. A correct floating position is secured by means of a weight on the underside and an air compartment on the top to provide a low center of gravity for the model. Propulsion for the model can be provided by bringing an upward directed flow, possibly air bubbles, into the container from below. The vertically directed stream will engage inclined grooves or corrugations in the side surfaces of the model and thus cause a forwardly directed momentum. However, if used as a toy, this model will be unsuitable for active play in the sea, in a bathtub or in a swimming pool. The inclined grooves will, if the model is flung into the water, at first create a brief downward movement. If the toy exhibits buoyancy, the grooves will thereafter provide a momentum in the rearward direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,471,885 shows an unmotorized water toy where the main point is that models of e.g. fish or submarines are provided with a specific gravity similar to the specific gravity of water in order to stay afloat at a given depth. This can be achieved by manufacturing the model from a material which is lighter than water, however with a weight-adjusted heavier lower part, which will also ensure a correct floating position. An exact adaptation of the specific gravity of the model can also be made if the elastic skin of the model is filled with a material which will draw more or less water when squeezed together and thereafter released. From a stable depth level the model can possibly be rendered a rising movement by providing vertical water streams or air bubbles from below. However, when using this model, one will miss the possibility of user contribution to a natural, forward movement. Even though the model can be pushed somewhat in a forward direction, its shape and center of gravity are not adapted with consideration to a long glide curve in the water.